To say I have neglected my poor baby blog, is an extreme understatement. The whole job thing with the addition of two new ones (ya know, because working 60 hours a week is soooo- fun) has created this pocket in my brain where the only thoughts contained in it deal with working until I die and pass out. It’s horrific. I hate it.
Needless to say, I have an interview for something on Thursday that would be about the best job of my entire adulthood, so if that pulls through… my hours will be fantastical and I will be a happy ball of joy who loves writing about new music again.
Here’s hoping for the best… be back very, very soon. <3
A I prepare for a summer full of working 12 hour days, I have spent my last week of half freedom and just one job doing fun stuffs. These fun things apparently included forgetting about my blog… which is preposterous as I adore my little blog world and the actual hundreds (INSANE!) of people who read it. So again, here I am with an apologetic mega post. I will do my bestest not to forget this little life saving music gem of mine over the coming weeks, if I do, you have free reign to punch me when you see me. (seriously, I want a black eye before I hit 30… it’s on my severely deranged bucket list… doesn’t everyone want to rock the, “Fight Club” black eye… just once?)
We are going with some throwback sounds today… maybe it’s nostalgia… maybe it’s sleepiness… either way, I want music at the moment that sounds like music from other moments… moments driving in my car where the music playing sounds so familiar, like it’s your best friend. All these bands are my new best friends… and we are fucking going on a drive.
High Dials – The Holy Ground
High Highs – Open Season
His Clancyness – Ottawa Backfired Soon
(and now for some super fun-ness from Brazil… lots of loud noises that don’t sound like words…. YAY!)
Holger – Beaver
“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”
— Dr. Seuss
Mmmmmonday. For the first and last time in my life (most likely) I have this weird lull inbetween being laid off and working again. Sure, I have the part-time radio job but even that feels like a vacation at 24 hours a week compared to the 60+ I have been working. I decided that I am only going to work 5 hours today, then I am going to browse the mall with a friend as a form of self torture, eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich and then sit in a bar until all hours of the night drinking water (seriously) and talking about life and the crazy adventure it takes you on. Needless to say I am in a nostalgic mood and these two bands proved to be the perfect soundtrack for how I hope the day will go, simplistic and easily entertaining.
Henry Wolfe hails from LA and plays songs that are described as folk but what I would honestly descibe as “bippity-boppity”. Yes, that’s a technical term. It means when one is immensly enjoying a song and starts to bop delightfully up and down while in a sitting position. It’s yummy. Also, this video is fucking adorable… well, ya know… until the inevitable.
Hey Rosetta! have been described as the next Arcade Fire… I don’t know that I would go THAT far as predicting someone’s eventual Grammy, but they are fucking lovely and might just take a whack at making my favorites from this whole SxSW endeavour.
Mellow kind of Friday. I usually try to bust out the dance-y pants jams for Friday but I can’t skip these two gems. They win.
Harrys Gym are haunting and upbeat all at the same time and that in itself deserves some major props. I will admit that I gravitate more to male vocalists, I can’t help that the element of sexiness reels me in more. But, if I was a lesbian, this band would be a new favorite. For now, they will make the list of bands that I like lots and lots.
The Head and the Heart have been on my radar for years. I felt impressive when I sat down with John Roderick awhile back and he mentioned them and I squealed with delight. They are amazing and will no doubt have uber success in the near future… ya know, if people start to pay attention to good fucking music. They are somber without being depressing. They are fun without trying. They are the jam. The Friday jam.
H!!!! We made it to H! And it’s only… May… yeah this project is definitely looking at a solid year.
We start with Hands… a band with a name so cool that they rock the end of an arm right off. They have some pretty spiffy LA band friends like MGMT and Foster the People. So it’s no shock that they are taking off with the same kind of momentum (i.e. people adoring them before they even start to write thier first song, nuts). I couldn’t even find a video that represented them even slightly accurately but here it is, a choppy live show, and I was still pretty impressed by the innovation involved. Like.
Haroula Rose is a girl that I like moreso because I wish I was her. She plays guitar and sings sweetly and wears boots without her calves looking fat. Yep. Oh and her eyebrows are ridiculously perfect… it’s a girl thing. Whatever… if I was sweeter and less full of salt and bitterness, I bet I could listen to her more… for now, a song or two is all I can muster of her sugary sweetness. I am assuming people who read this might have more of a soul and be able to enjoy a whole album even.
It’s hard to mentally grasp everything that is going on around me currently. I decided that America might not be the place for me to teach given the current climate of teachers being labeled, “the bad guys”. With that notion, I have decided to move back east… wayyyy east to my second home in South Korea. That is to say, I don’t have a home there, just a base of friends and a country that welcomed me with open arms before, and will hopefully do so again on this second endeavor of trying to find oneself in a world that keeps throwing me for loops.
Between getting 20 emails a day of job offers (Korea should really hold the title of, “Land of (teaching) Opportunity”) and applying for grad school, and being laid off, and working a second job… it’s no wonder that I feel a bit lost. Thankfully, one thing has always stayed true and constant and my life, the love of the great art of music. Today/tonight (forgive me for my lateness AGAIN) is no exception, music will always be my way of finding center.
Bands for the day are Great Lake Swimmers (swoon of mine for years) They remind me why I am so in love with the sound of fingers sliding across strings… it’s the best noise EVER.
AH! YouTube isn’t letting me embed! I will fix this when it comes back, but for now, here’s the link.
And ok… so the second one is more of a joke…I am done with the G’s and want to give H a grand opening tomorrow so here’s a little taste of South Korean pop music that I will be returning to. So they weren’t at SxSW, but maybe they should have been… if not just because it’s ridiculously entertaining. If Japan is famous for their J-Rock, Korea is famous for it’s K-Pop. And this is why.
Today is about kicking life in the face and not apologizing. I am on week four of not being paid… again. I could let it continually rape me of feeling or, as I opted today, scissor kick it square in the face and tell it, “fuck you, I am going to get my masters and go make my mark on South Korea yet again. You are my bitch, life.”
I hope I can keep that momentum going as I have been told I “NEED” to stay for a meeting after work today, whether they finally throw in the towel on the school or not, who knows.
I certainly would like to be paid for the time that I have put in, but I also knew that it might not be a possibility… so in the meantime, I just did what I know… teach, teach, teach (ok, and apply for a masters program and a shit ton of overseas jobs… but also, teach).
I can only do what I think is right… even if that means I fuck it all up. Here’s hoping that I am doing this whole life thing right. That’s all any of us can do.
First up, Goldheart Assembly, which ironically is the exact title of the imaginary group of people that have been making my decisions for the past 2 months. I probably should have bailed and went to a school that would have actually paid me for work done, but that damn “Goldheart Assembly” kept me going… or something. Whatever, their music is delicious and I like it and I am going with it. Leave me alone.
Also, BEARDS.
Next up… a sound I don’t usually find myself gravitating to. Maybe today was just the right day for me to hear these guys, who knows. That’s the joy of music, you can love it one day and swear it’s the worst thing you have ever heard the next. Yay for messy brains interacting with the messy world of art.
Electronic, you win today, you can thank Philadelphia based, Grandchildren for making me like you today.
GOLD SHIT! It seems if bear is the animal for bands, gold is the new color. And why the hell not when clearly the coolest pants you can wear are gold and from American Apparel, you super cool hipster, you.
Anyway, post of the day is just some solid gold. Even involving Goldenboy with the actual golden boy of indie, Eliott Smith singing back up for him. These bands are yummerful and my head is full of applications and interview times for moving abroad again, so this messy girl is leaving you with another video dump. I suck, I know. Mondays blow, what can I say?
Also, pandas are my favorite, so if this first one blows, blame my bias name rhyming shit from childhood mmmmk?
I don’t like goldenboys or people… so at least you know this one is bias free.
Maybe it’s because I don’t teach on Fridays, maybe it’s because a friend visiting from NY/Korea has me giddy, maybe it’s because this radio 2nd job is so easy I could do it with my hands tied… maybe it’s just because it’s fucking Friday and everyone should celebrate surviving the blah that is Mon-Thurs…. either way, I am a happy girl.
Music always follows suit so today we have two very happy bands, Givers and Gold Motel. Both have that older sound of the 50′s/60′s Garfunkel-ness that Vampire Weekend first revived so well. Givers deviate a little giving it an electronic edge and some hollow vocals that leave you making weird noises right along with them. They are delightful, full of clapping and bells, my favoritest. A few strong strokes on the guitar is enough to keep me feeling like I am not floating on a rainbow… but it’s close.
Next up… a band that definitely stays true to the older sound without trying much to modify what old sweet music had going for it: delicious melancholy. It’s sweet without crossing over to kitsch. It’s not something I think that I could listen to over and over on repeat but on a sunny Friday afternoon, it’s exactly what I will be blaring with the windows down on the drive home in lovely Florida.
Working 2 jobs at over 12 hours a day… pretty much entering the fuck my life summer it seems. Shitstick.
As I work on filling out job applications for Tokyo… because yes, teaching overseas is easier and WAY better than in America, I am listening to these jammy-jams.
I need sleep so very, very bad so today is lacking in my awesome wit… simply to say, the first band is awesome and the second one is awesome and only a little annoying for being one half Sean Lennon and one half Sean Lennon’s girlfriend.
